75 former players sue NFL over concussions

Seventy-five former players, including former Giants running backs Ottis Anderson, Rodney Hampton and Lewis Tillman, are suing the NFL for negligence and liability, claiming the league concealed information about the risks and dangers of concussions for decades.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also lists former Patriots cornerback Raymond Clayborn and former Dolphins receiver Mark Duper as plaintiffs. Gary Jones, a Jets safety in 1995-96, and Steve Reese, a Jets linebacker in 1974-75, also are plaintiffs.

Almost all the players reported suffering symptoms, including headaches and memory loss.

Riddell, which has supplied most NFL helmets for several decades, is also a defendant. The suit alleges the NFL knew as early as the 1920s about the harmful effects of concussions and claims it concealed the information from coaches, trainers, players and the public until June 2010.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league hasn't "seen the complaint, but would vigorously contest any claims of this kind."

"[The NFL] owed a duty to protect plaintiffs on the field," the suit read. "It owed a duty to protect plaintiffs to educate them and other players about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and/or concussion injury . . . and to design rules to eliminate the risk of concussion during games and/or practices."

The NFL has attempted in recent years to increase awareness about concussions, and a recently formed player safety committee has recommended guidelines that would cut down on contact in an effort to reduce concussions. But the suit contends the league should have acted more quickly, and in fact sought to undermine research that indicated a direct correlation between concussions and their aftereffects.

"Between 2002 and 2005, a series of clinical and neuropathological studies performed by independent scientists and physicians demonstrated that multiple NFL-induced concussions cause cognitive problems such as depression, early onset dementia and CTE and its related symptoms," the suit read.

"In response to these studies, the NFL, to further a scheme of fraud and deceit, had members of the NFL's Brain Injury Committee deny knowledge of a link between concussions and cognitive decline and claim that more time was needed to reach a definitive conclusion on the issue."

Other former players named in the suit include Cardinals running back Stump Mitchell and Lions defensive end Reggie Rogers. Other retired Giants involved are receiver Chris Calloway and cornerback Thomas Randolph.